Fine Japanese Calligraphy

The Art of Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

Be Water My Friend

友よ水になれ (tomo yo mizu ni nare)

This is the Japanese form of Bruce Lee’s famous quote “Be water, my friend”. It is composed of 友よ (read tomo yo) meaning friend with “yo” added for emphasis, 水 (read mizu) meaning “water”, the grammatical element に (read ni) and 成れ (read nare) meaning “become!” and is a command form of the verb 成る (read naru) meaning “to become”. To give it some context:

Empty your mind.
Be formless, Shapeless, like water.
If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle.
You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot.
Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend
Bruce Lee

Verify: 友よ水になれ in the Japanese-English Dictionary

Be Water My Friend (友よ水になれ) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Be Water My Friend 友よ水になれ tomo yo mizu ni nare Cursive Vertical VC5B

Be Water My Friend (友よ水になれ) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Be Water My Friend 友よ水になれ tomo yo mizu ni nare Design Vertical VD5B

Be Water My Friend (友よ水になれ) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Be Water My Friend 友よ水になれ tomo yo mizu ni nare Semi-Cursive Vertical VS5C

Be Water My Friend (友よ水になれ) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Be Water My Friend 友よ水になれ tomo yo mizu ni nare Semi-Cursive Vertical VS5D

Be Water My Friend (友よ水になれ) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Be Water My Friend 友よ水になれ tomo yo mizu ni nare Block Horizontal HB4A

Be Water My Friend (友よ水になれ) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Be Water My Friend 友よ水になれ tomo yo mizu ni nare Cursive Horizontal HC3A

Be Water My Friend (友よ水になれ) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Be Water My Friend 友よ水になれ tomo yo mizu ni nare Semi-Cursive Horizontal HS3A

Be Water My Friend (友よ水になれ) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Be Water My Friend 友よ水になれ tomo yo mizu ni nare Semi-Cursive Horizontal HS4A

Also available as a hand-brushed Japanese scroll

Master Calligrapher Eri Takase creates each scroll personally, hand-brushed to order on traditional Japanese paper.

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